Bay watch.

Byline: Sherri Buri McDonald The Register-Guard

Virtually anyone with a computer and a digital camera can sell items over eBay, the worldwide online auction.

But some people don't want to do it themselves. They'd gladly pay someone else to market via eBay their jewelry, electronics, boats, tools or any other items that someone somewhere might want.

That has spawned a slew of ventures piggy-backing on the success of eBay.

Known as eBay brokerages, or drop-off stores, these businesses are a modern take on consignment stores, selling other people's stuff on eBay for a fee.

AuctionDrop, based in San Carlos, Calif., which launched in March, is the leading drop-off store. It has five stores in the San Francisco area and plans to expand into Los Angeles and New York.

Now, Eugene has its own eBay brokerage - wedoebay4u.com - with offices and a warehouse in west Eugene.

It was founded by two former executives at Rosen Products LLC, a west Eugene maker of flat-panel display screens. Rosen expanded rapidly in the late 1990s, supplying video entertainment systems to car manufacturers. But the national economy faltered, prompting car makers to cancel their orders and leaving Rosen with millions of dollars worth of excess parts and inventory. Rosen closed in September 2002, laying off its 225 employees.

Abe Kossol, former Rosen vice president of operations, and Terry Alberts, former supply chain director, pooled their severance money - about $50,000 - to buy some of Rosen's leftover inventory and equipment - everything from office furniture to heavy machinery, Kossol said.

In the past year, the pair brokered the sale of about $20 million in former Rosen inventory. About $2 million of it they sold through eBay, with help from Rhonda Maillard, Kossol's former administrative assistant at Rosen. "We learned that you can sell a lot of stuff on eBay," Kossol said.

Online auctions are especially attractive in a weak economy when businesses are scrimping, Maillard said. "Budgets have gotten so tight that (companies) are looking for used equipment on eBay," she said.

Scouting for customers

Now that the trio have successfully liquidated most of Rosen's inventory, they're looking for other things to sell. They know that businesses are willing to sell over eBay, and now they're trying to figure out whether there's much demand from individuals.

Kossol and Alberts recently registered the business name wedoebay4u.com, and they're spreading the word about their company. Half the company's customers are individuals and half are businesses, Maillard estimates.

The company won't handle items banned by eBay, such as firearms, human organs, and some animal parts and skins.

Lori Wenham, administrator of Patients' Hospital in Redding, Calif., said she had "tremendous results" selling hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment through Kossol's and Alberts' company.

Patients' Hospital, a surgical hospital, frequently updates its equipment and sells outdated devices. "They moved our equipment quickly - much more quickly than anyone I've used in the past, and their customer service was excellent," Wenham said.

She said she could have listed the items herself on eBay, but why bother? "I don't have the time to monitor it, to keep up on everything, and answer people's questions," Wenham said.

"It was way worth the commission," she said, adding that the brokerage researches what the items should fetch and generally gets higher prices than she would have, so the commission pays for itself.

Another bonus, she said, is that the equipment can be stored at wedoebay4u.com's Eugene warehouse, freeing up hospital storage space.

At eBay's Web site, all buyers and sellers can post feedback reviews, in which they comment on each other's performance. Wedoebay4u.com had 321 reviews for the past six months; 319 of them were positive, two were neutral and none was negative.

Many of the reviews complimented the company on prompt shipping and excellent customer service. The two neutral ratings complained that items ordered didn't come with all necessary parts. Wedoebay4u.com responded that its eBay listings clearly explained that the components were not included.

Brokerages proliferate 

Given the profits that can be made on eBay, wedoebay4u.com probably won't be the only eBay brokerage in the Eugene-Springfield area for long.

E-powersellers.com, an Albany-based brokerage that has traded via eBay since 1998, plans to open stores in Eugene and Salem in the next few months, company founder Craig Solomon said.

E-powersellers.com began as a support Web site for eBay sellers. It now has a drop-off shop in downtown Albany and six employees, Solomon said.

E-powersellers.com and AuctionDrop are just two examples of eBay brokerages popping up around the country. EBay hasn't entered the fray with its own stores, but it's watching the trend with interest, eBay spokeswoman Shannon Stubo said.

"We're certainly intrigued by what they're doing," she said.

EBay recognizes that some people want help auctioning goods online. So several years ago, it launched its trading assistant program. EBay's Web site has a directory that lets people search for an independent trading assistant in their geographic area. EBay monitors feedback on trading assistants to make sure they have at least 50 feedback reviews and that at least 98 percent are positive, Stubo said. That's the extent of eBay's relationship with the assistants, she said. EBay is not directly affiliated with them and does not endorse them, she said.

The details of selling

So you've got something you want to sell through wedoebay4u.com? Typically, it needs to be worth $100 or more, Kossol said. You can either keep the item until it sells or drop it by wedoebay4u.com's office for storage.

For a 28 percent commission, wedoebay4u.com will take digital photos of your item, write a description of it, list it for auction twice, answer questions from potential buyers, notify you and the buyer of a sale, and handle shipping and payment collection.

You'll also pay separate eBay fees - typically 3 percent of the selling price, Maillard said.

You'll generally get your money - minus commission and fees - within two weeks of when the buyer makes payments, Maillard said.

If the item doesn't sell, you pay nothing, and you can pick it up or let wedoebay4u.com hand it over to a charity.

Wedoebay4u.com has managed to sell most of what has come in its doors, Kossol said.

The only item it had trouble moving was an elderly client's Hammond organ that needed repairs and sat in storage for five months. The company finally found a church that would pick it up for free, Kossol said.

"That was one of those things where you shouldn't take it, but you want to help someone out," he said.

Start-up not a snap

An eBay brokerage may sound like an easy business to start up with little capital. But Solomon, owner of e-powersellers.com, said running it requires hard work and expertise.

"It can be confusing," he said. "People can say, 'This sounds like fun,' and then start taking in garage-sale type items. They'll find themselves out of business very fast if they don't use caution about what they're listing and how they're listing it.

"There will be a lot of mom-and-pops that are going to try this and find that it's more than they expected."

And the brokerages aren't without risk. For starters, it's unclear how strong consumer demand is for the service.

AuctionDrop, which has raised about $6 million in venture capital financing, believes that consumers will respond.

"It's very surprising to us how many people aren't familiar with online auctions," AuctionDrop spokeswoman Andrea Roesch said.

She said 15 percent to 18 percent of AuctionDrop's customers don't even have e-mail. "And we're in Silicon Valley," she said.

Another risk is that the brokerages are totally dependent on eBay.

"If anything happens to eBay at any given moment, it's over," Solomon said. "It's putting all your eggs in the eBay basket."

CAPTION(S):

Terry Alberts (left) and Abe Kossel pooled their severance money from Rosen Products LLC to start up their eBay brokerage, wedoebay4u.com. Rhonda Maillard's company, Shared Services LLC, helps wedoebay4u.com set up ebay auctions for people who don't want the trouble of listing the items themselves.